Prom o(^o^)o

Mkay, so last night was the San Domenico prom.  I started out my Sunday by waking up and downloading some new songs.  I got a song called "Dinosaurs go Rawr" by Amy Can Flyy.... It made me really happy.

Between 3:30 and 4:30 people began arriving at my house.  Ariel, Jordan (a girl, btw) and Maria came over for snacks and getting ready before prom.  We played Curses, this UBER fun game that everyone should play at least once in their life.  So for the game, you basically go around giving people "Curse Cards" which are cards that have ridiculous stuff written on them that the one who is given the said card has to do throughout the game.  Some examples: "Every time you hear an animal noise, say the name of a lunch meat" or "You are a gorilla.  Every time you speak scratch your underarms."  After a while everyone accumulates like 5 of these cards so everyone ends up looking quite silly.  It's VERY fun, trust me (^o^)v

So then we got ready.  We all got dolled up in our pretty makeup (or rather, Maria's pretty makeup... everyone else forgot theirs and I think mine is hiding in the back of my friend Callie's car...) and then we put on makeup and jewelry and we managed to get ready in an hour, which is pretty good considering it was prom.  My grandma came over and did my hair (^^)  She teased my short curly hair a bit to make it wild and exotic (sort of) but then I had to tame it because I had this HUGE poofy thing at the top of my head and it was odd...  So yeah.

Then Jonathan, my prom date and the brother of the aforementioned friend named Callie, came over for pictures and we all hammed it up for my stepmom Lori's fancy new digital camera.  A few pictures will be posted below.  EVERYONE LOOKED AMAZING, EVEN CALLIE WHO WASN'T EVEN GOING TO PROM!!  (she's a freshman in college but she's out for summer and came to drop Jonathan off with his mom)

So we got to prom about half an hour early since Maria and Jordan thought they had to set up the decorations, but everything was alreayd set up when we got there so we all kinda sat around chit-chatting for a while...  It was kinda funny :P  Then people came and we spent a ridiculously long time eating dinner, but we had fun messing with Maria and Jordan by hiding their chairs under the table... I know, we have such good manners.  OH, btw prom was at the Casa Madrona Hotel in Sausolito.  So then later we trekked to the room where the dance was going to be, and trust me it was a minor hike.  We got lost on the way trying to find the frickin room where the dinner was, but the hotel is pretty so it's all okay.  So yeah, the dance.  That was fun (^^) Only thing that made me sad was that I asked le DJ person to play "Hips Don't Lie" so I could show off a bit (TEEHEE!) but she played it at the end.  When we were supposed to leave.  And all the lights were on.  And the last song she played in the darkness was that annoying Prince/Princess/Love story song by Taylor Swift.  FML.

But yeah, it was fun (=^.^=)v

(the corsage Jonathan gave me <3 )

(me, Jordan, Ariel, and Maria)

(model pose!)

(isn't Maria gorgeous?)

(my friend Callie, isn't she perty?)

(me and Jonathan)

o(^o^)o

(YAY)

YAY ASHLAND!!

So I went to Ashland, Oregon about two months ago (sometime in March) for the Shakespeare festival because my school is amazing. See, every year there's this week called Spring Discovery. Everyone is supposed to go off and discover something. The freshies stay in Marin and do stuff like go to farms and play with dirt and learn how to defend themselves. It's actually really fun! Sophomores go to Catalina Island nearish to LA . Juniors and Seniors get to choose what they do, and I chose to go to Ashland. Some people went to the border of Mexico to do service learning down there, but I chose the fun/carefree option.

It's a 7 hour car ride to get there. Yay. On the way down I watched Benny and Joon, an absolutely brilliant movie that you should see, and not just because Johnny Depp (sp?) is amazing hot, but because he's an amazing actor too.

We drove in on Monday, had dinner, and talked ourselves silly in our hotel rooms. Tuesday we saw The Music Man, a fun play that opens with a fast-paced talked-out song that just makes you bounce in your seat with joy. Wednesday we saw Death and the King's Horseman, an intense play about the Yoruban king's horseman who doesn't fulfill his duty and suffers immense shame in the face of his people. Thursday we saw Macbeth, which was EPIC AND BAD-A**. And yes, Macbeth was the only Shakespeare play that we saw during the Shakespear festival. I'm not sure what the thinking was behind that...

Well, if you ever get the chance, go to Ashland. It has good restaurants and funky little shops, and if you look in the right places you can find good deals in the consignment stores. Don't be afraid of used clothing, they have character that can be erased with a good wash. Do be sure to go with friends, so you have someone to share chocolate with, since there's this chocolate store that's AMAZING, and I think there's an actual chocolate factory that you can tour. My friends went and the factory people gave them free chocolate and lavender flavored chapstick.

So yes, go to Ashland and revel in their Shakespeare-rich culture and the amazing food. Go off and be merry!!

PS: Some pictures below...

(Yes, that is the airport in the town of Weed)

(some flags in Ashland)

(My friends Emily, Maria and Ariel in the hotel)

(LOL)

(LOL)

Nepal

Mkay, so about 3 weeks ago I got back from Nepal I have some stories and some pictures to share.  MUAHAHA!!!

So it took 2 days to get to Nepal from SF  airport.  One 12 hour flight to Japan, 4 hour layover where we took showers (because the Narita Airtport is AWESOME), 6 hour flight to Bangkok, stayed the night in Bangkok, 2-3 hour flight to Kathmandu, Nepal.  ALL RIGHT.  Once we got to Kathmandu, we went to the house of Olga Murray the woman who created the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation (NYOF) that helps kids in Nepal.  We stayed with her and she showed us the NYOF orphanage and nutritional rehab center for malnourished kids.  Here are some pictures!

(eating Japanese food in Japan, LOL)

We went with Elizabeth, a friend of Lori's and the woman who introduced us to NYOF.  She brought her son Sam along as well.

(oh, those silly Japanese kids...)

(Nicole, Sam, and me with some of the orphans)

(Olga Murray and the kids in the nutritional rehab center)

So before leaving for Nepal, Nicole and I collected a whole bunch of kid's clothing and toys to bring to Olga.  My school donated a TON of beanie babies and I got to give them to the kids at the nutritional home.  They had never had any toys before so they were scared of them!  It was so cute!!  In the rehab center, they bring malnourished kids in with their mothers so they can teach the mothers how to feed their kids healthy meals with what they have, and then those women go back to their villages and teach the other women there.  Cool, huh?

(a store in Kathmandu, ENGRISH)

(some cows in Pokhara)

After 2 days in Kathmandu, we all went to the mountains for a four day trek.  Oh yeah.  Hot sun, high altitude, steep pathways, it was INTENSE.  There was one day when we hiked uphill in the blazing sun for 5 hours.  Straight.  Hell yeah.

(some women hiking in flip-flops, the porters carrying our bags, and a donkey)

(innit pretty?)

And that's the story of my trip to Nepal.  YAY!! (=^.^=)v

3 Awesome Things (May)

Birthday: (n) 1. The day on which somebody is born 2. The day in each year that is the anniversary of the day somebody was born (1)

My birthday was last Saturday, May 2nd. Isn't that exciting? I'm finally 17!  No driver's licence though... You wanna know what isn't so awesome? SATs. On your birthday. Yeah, I took those scary subject tests on my birthday. I did my best, though.  That night I did go to Strobe VI, which was UBER fun, but I need to make a separate post for that. 

Anyhoo, below are some pictures of my joint birthday with my best friend Maria last year, when we both turned 16.

(From left to right: My brother Alejandro, Maria, me)

(the tall one behind me is my sister Nicole)

(me and my dog Poncho after a night of partying)

Star: (n) 1. A gaseous mass in space that generates energy by thermonuclear reactions, e.g. the Sun. Stars range in size from that of a planet to one larger than the Earth's orbit 2. A shape representing or based on that of a star as seen in the night sky, usually having five or more triangular points radiating from a center (1)

Have you ever looked up at the stars and wondered why they looked so darn small?  And then when you learn about light travel and all, don't you ever think it's weird that when we look at the sun we're looking at what the sun looked like 8 minutes ago?  Now picture this, you're looking at a start that's 800, 000 light years away.  That means you're looking at what it looked like 800, 000 years ago and it'll take 800, 000 years for humans to figure out if it died or not.  Crazy, huh?  But stars are pretty, so that's why they're awesome.  YUSH!

(2)

Joy: (n) 1. Feelings of great happiness or pleasure, especially of an elevated or spiritual kind 2. A pleasurable aspect of something or source of happiness (1)

Joy is a lovely thing for obvious reasons.  No explanation necessary.  This video brought me joy..

(3)

(1) MSN Encarta Dictionary

(2) star picture found at http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_58/11469303912i5B4m.jpg

(3) found on Youtube.com